


Rebuild All Your Ruins

by LostyK



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Hurt Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Hurt Deceit | Janus Sanders, Hurt/Comfort, Janus Sanders has terrible Parents, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:28:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28460163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostyK/pseuds/LostyK
Summary: If Virgil ran, he might be able to get away, might be able to make it to the end of the street, and then onto the main road out of town. Surely they wouldn’t attack him there, in front of witnesses?But if he ran, what would happen to Janus? Virgil was tougher than most people gave him credit for, maybe if he jumped at the man, he’d be able to get them both away.Virgil and Janus were best friends, now turned bitter rivals. But when they both get kidnapped - Janus for his parents influence, Virgil for being in the wrong place at the wrong time - they're going to have to rely on each other to get out alive.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders
Comments: 11
Kudos: 76
Collections: TSS Fanworks Collective Discord Secret Santa





	Rebuild All Your Ruins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Greenninjagal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greenninjagal/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, Green!
> 
> This fic was written as part of the Gift Exchange for the TSS Fanworks Collective Server
> 
> Warnings in the end notes

By the time Virgil made it outside, the parking lot was empty of cars, the buses had already left, and it was beginning to get dark.

“Well, this is  _ exactly  _ how I wanted to spend my afternoon,” drawled Janus as he came out of the school behind him. He was frowning down at his phone.

“Fuck you,” Virgil snapped. “This is your fault.”

“Oh?” Janus asked. “I seem to recall you being the one to hit me.”

“Because you were being a dick to Roman.”

“Princey needs insulting sometimes,” Janus quoted, slouching his back in an impression of Virgil. “Otherwise his ego will get so big it crushes us all.”

Virgil gritted his teeth at the familiar words. Sure, he’d said that to Janus once, after one of his and Roman’s legendary fights, but that was before he’d gotten to know Roman. Before he’d realised that the other boy’s ego wasn’t as strong as he wanted everyone to think. Before he figured out he didn’t  _ have  _ to go through life always trying to be the one to throw the first punch.

“Fuck you,” Virgil snapped again.

He stormed off across the car park. Now he was going to have to walk home, which was just great. He was sunk into his moody thoughts for a while before he noticed the gentle footsteps behind him.

Virgil turned around and glared at Janus. “What are you doing?”

Janus raised an eyebrow. “Walking. Obviously.”

“ _ Why _ ?” Virgil hissed.

“Because my driver isn’t answering,” Janus said, frowning at his phone again. He said  _ driver  _ as casually as Virgil might talk about the bus.

“Whatever,” Virgil muttered, beginning to walk again. “Just stay out of my way.”

“Oh, of course,” Janus snapped. “Let’s all make sure to stay out of the way of Prince Virgil.”

Virgil spun back around. “Oh, that’s rich, coming from  _ you _ .”

Janus opened his mouth to say something, and it was only because Virgil had stopped to argue that he noticed the doors of the van open, noticed something heavy swing before it collided with Janus’ head.

Virgil stood, frozen, as Janus was pulled into the van, and then the man looked out and noticed  _ Virgil _ . If Virgil ran, he might be able to get away, might be able to make it to the end of the street, and then onto the main road out of town. Surely they wouldn’t attack him there, in front of witnesses?

But if he ran, what would happen to Janus? Virgil was tougher than most people gave him credit for, maybe if he jumped at the man, he’d be able to get them both away.

Before Virgil could decide, hands grabbed him from behind. Virgil snarled and kicked out. Damn it, there must have been another man, of course there had been. He was thrown into the van, and he tried to push himself up, but there was a body on top of him, holding him down.

“Rope,” the person on top of him shouted, and then his wrists were forced together and something wrapped around them. Virgil tried to kick out, but someone grabbed his legs and forced them still as they, too, were bound.

In the dark of the van, Virgil could just make out Janus, slumped to the side. He had no idea if Janus was awake or not, couldn’t even make out if Janus was  _ breathing _ .

“What the fuck do we do now?” one of the men snarled.

Virgil shuddered and tried to press himself as far away from the men as he could.

“Just drive us back,” the other one answered. “Let Mal figure out what to do with him.”

One of the men left the back of the van, while the other stayed where he was. Soon, the engine roared to life, and then the van was moving. Virgil pressed himself to the side of the van, and tried not to think about what would happen when the van stopped moving.

His mother was working late that night. What would she think, when she came back and found that Virgil wasn’t there? What would his friends say, when they found out Virgil was missing?

Virgil edged closer to where Janus was slumped. Janus began to stir as the van came to a stop.

“Virgil?” he muttered, still clearly out of it. “…what…?”

One of the men grabbed Janus and pulled him out of the van. Janus struggled weakly, clearly still not knowing where he was. Moments later, the second man grabbed Virgil and began to haul him out of the van.

They entered a building – a warehouse, Virgil thought, and he was strangely upset to learn that that cliché was actually true. With his legs bound, he couldn’t walk properly, so it was more like being dragged along.

They moved through a door on the side of the main floor, which led to a corridor, and into the first room off it. It might have been an office, in a previous life; now it was empty except for the piping along one wall.

Janus was already there, his arms being forced behind a pipe. He must have recovered enough to be more aware, because now he looked scared. Two other men were already in the room, one in the same dark clothes as the kidnappers, though this man had a moustache, and another in a fancy suit. Neither of them looked happy to see Virgil pulled into the room.

“What is this?” the man in the suit asked, and the man holding Virgil up dropped him to the ground.

Virgil hissed in pain as, unable to break his fall, his shoulder hit the concrete floor. He tried to push himself into a sitting position, but then there was a foot on his side, pushing him onto his back. Virgil went still and blinked up at the man in the suit.

“He was there when we made the grab,” the man who had been carrying Virgil said.

“Y’know, Mal,” the man with the moustache began to say, but the man in the suit, Mal apparently, silenced him with a wave of his hand.

“So he’s a witness,” Mal said, and Virgil went cold.

_ Witness _ – that meant they thought he could tell the police who they were. Which meant they probably wouldn’t want to let him go, and they clearly didn’t want to keep him around-

“Look,” Virgil tried. “I- I don’t know anything about this, okay? So if you let us go, there’s nothing I can tell anyone.”

Mal’s foot stamped on Virgil’s ribs, forcing all the breath out of his lungs. He blinked back tears of pain, unable to move or curl in on himself the way he wanted to. The fourth man – the one with the moustache – twitched.

“Shut up,” Mal snapped. “Who even are you?”

“Virgil,” he was able to gasp out around the pain. “Virgil Storm.”

“He’s a family friend,” Janus said, and Virgil twisted his head to stare at him, because  _ what _ ? “My parents adore him, they treat him like another son.”

That – that wasn’t true. That was  _ the furthest thing  _ from the truth – even when he and Janus  _ had  _ been friends, the Ekans’ had never adored him. Virgil had been able to gather that by the way they wouldn’t let Janus sleep over at his horse, or the way they eyed Virgil’s hand-me-down clothes. Once, while Janus was handing him a birthday present, Virgil heard them whispering about  _ bad influence _ and people  _ only after their money _ . They’d probably been thrilled when Virgil and Janus had stopped being friends, and Virgil had been out of their lives for good.

Mal looked at Virgil, considering – he was clearly buying it, because even when concussed Janus was still good at lying. Virgil had seen him in action enough times to know just how good he was.

Virgil went tense under Mal’s gaze, the way he looked at him like he was a bull ready for slaughter, assessing just how much he would be worth.

“Hey, think of it like this,” the man with the moustache said, “Double the boys, double the reward.”

“Fine,” Mal said at last. He stepped away from Virgil, and one of the other men pulled Virgil upright. Virgil tensed, waiting for another blow, but the man just stepped away, and Virgil took the opportunity to push himself against the wall, as far away as he could get. He curled his legs close to his chest, in case someone tried to kick him again.

But the four men just left; Mal first, then the two men who had grabbed Virgil and Janus. The moustached man was last, he cast one last assessing look over the two of them before he shut the door, cutting off the light from the corridor

It wasn’t completely dark inside the room, some light managed to get through the crack under the door, but the room was still dim. Janus was little more than a shape in one corner.

“Fuck,” Virgil said. “Fuck, this is- fuck.”

He didn’t know what those men wanted, but he knew that it couldn’t be good. He wondered if his face would end up on the news, if the teachers that always hated him would manage to find something nice to say about him. Probably not. They would have Janus to focus on.

Virgil could die there.  _ Janus  _ could die there, and how could that be possible? He was Janus, the boy who could talk his way out of anything. It didn’t seem right that someone like him could just  _ die _ , scared and alone in a warehouse somewhere-

Or not alone, not unless they killed Virgil first. Which they could, once they realise Janus has lied to him, and that Virgil was a nobody whose mum worked two jobs to keep a roof over their heads, so there was no way she’d be able to afford any sort of ransom-

“Well,” Janus said. “This is all your fault.”

Virgil pulled himself out of his spiralling thoughts to glare at Janus. “What the fuck?” he snapped. “How is this  _ my fault _ ?”

“You’re the one who managed to get us both in detention,” Janus pointed out calmly, in the same languid way he answered teachers when they tried to trip him up.

“That was you,” Virgil snarled, “Because you were being an asshole.”

“I was merely telling the truth,” Janus said. “I thought that was what you wanted.”

Virgil glared harder, though he knew Janus wouldn’t be able to see. “Fuck you.”

“Very mature. Honestly, I’m surprised you’re so upset. I didn’t think friendship mattered to you.”

It was a low blow, and one that  _ shouldn’t _ hurt. Virgil shouldn’t have to think about Janus’ face when he saw Virgil in the principal’s office, how Janus had snapped, “I don’t care,” when Virgil had tried to explain himself. Because Virgil might have been the one to light the spark, but Janus’ sneers and insults had been what burned the bridge to ash.

“Fuck you,” Virgil muttered, and curled in on himself.

His hands brushed against his back pocket and realised there was something in there. He shifted around, trying to grab, and then hissed in pain when something sliced his fingers – a knife.

“Virgil?” Janus asked. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Virgil snapped.

Virgil couldn’t see Janus’ face, but he got the feeling that Janus didn’t buy it, but he didn’t question it further. “We won’t be here for long, at least,” he said. “My parents will pay the ransom.”

“Good for you,” Virgil muttered.

Virgil hadn’t put that knife there, Virgil didn’t even  _ own  _ a knife, so how-

“For both of us,” Janus said, something odd in his voice. “Look, Virgil-“

The door opened again, and this time the light in the room flickered on, blinding Virgil momentarily. When he was able to blink past the spots in his eyes, Mal had already walked into the room, holding up a phone. One of the men from earlier was there, too, this time wearing a ski mask and carrying a crowbar.

“Well, Mr Ekans,” Mal said, “Let me tell you how this will work. I’m going to start the camera, and then you’re going to say hello to your mummy and daddy, and tell them to do what I say. Think you can manage that?”

Janus nodded, teeth gritted. Virgil shrunk back to the wall, hoping the men might forget about him.

“Aaand,  _ show time,” _ Mal sang, gesturing for Janus to talk.

Janus swallowed, and then looked up at the camera. “Mother, father,” he said, voice not even shaking. “I’m okay. Do whatever they tell you to.”

“Short and sweet, shouldn’t be that hard to remember,” Mal commented. “But just in case you weren’t planning on listening to him…”

He nodded at the man in the mask, who stepped forward. Janus tensed, and pressed himself against the pipe behind him as much as he could. The man brought the bar down on Janus’ leg, and Janus-

Janus  _ screamed _ .

Virgil lunged forwards without thinking. “Stop,” he snarled. “Don’t hurt him.”

Mal tilted his head, studying Virgil. “Is that a request to take his place?”

Virgil shrank back, everything in him screaming at him to keep quiet. But other in the corner, Janus’ scream had turned into choked sobs. He wondered how much it would hurt, wondered if they’d break something.

“Fine,” Virgil said, voice cracking. “If- if you have to, hurt me instead.”

“How sweet,” Mal drawled. “But I think this is enough for now.”

He gestured, and the man in the ski mask left the room. The boss put his phone away, and then crouched down next to Janus, who was whimpering, curled around his leg as best he could.

“I’ll see you when your parents reply.” He leaned in closer, and said, voice hushed so that Virgil could barely hear it, “Between you and me, I hope they don’t do anything.”

Then the man left the room, flicking the light off as he did so. As soon as he was gone, Virgil crawled over to Janus.

“Are you okay?” Virgil asked, trying to peer at his injured leg. It was too dark to be able to make anything out.

“What do you think?” Janus snarled, and then he said, quieter, “I think it’s broken.”

Considering that it had just been hit by a metal pole, and Virgil was fairly certain he’d hear a  _ crack  _ over all the screaming, that seemed likely.

“Shit,” Virgil muttered, and Janus snorted.

“Yeah,” he said. He was shaking, and with his hands stuck behind his back, Virgil couldn’t do anything to help him right then.

He could get the knife between the ropes, however, and work on cutting them. Janus didn’t even seem to notice what he was doing.

“My- my parents will do what they say. Everything will be fine” Janus said, and Virgil stilled because he recognised that tone of voice, had heard it many times back when they were friends. Virgil was possibly the only person in the world able to tell when Janus was lying.

“Right,” Virgil agreed, sawing faster. He was almost through the ropes now, just a little bit further. “Yeah.”

The last of the rope snapped, and in his surprise Virgil dropped the knife. He swore, then twisted around to grab it. When he retrieved it, Janus was staring at him.

“You have a knife,” Janus stated.

Virgil turned his attention to cutting through the bonds around his legs. It was a lot easier with both hands free. “I think one of the men slipped it to me,” he said.

He got through the bonds and stood up, stretching his legs out. Part of his brain kept screaming at him that this was a bad idea, that if someone walked in now they would kill him for sure. He told that part to shut up.

When he turned his attention back to Janus, the other boy wasn’t looking at him. He was staring into space ahead of him, a look of resignation on his face.

Virgil crouched down, trying to get a look at where Janus’ hands were tied behind the pipe. He was able to get his knife between the rope and the pipe, and Janus startled.

“Relax, I know what I’m doing,” Virgil muttered. It was probably the truth.

“And what is that?” Janus asked.

Okay, Virgil had thought that that would be pretty obvious. “Cutting you loose?”

“My leg is broken,” Janus pointed out. “I won’t be able to walk out of here.”

“Yeah, and I’ll help you.”

Virgil was really starting to wonder what Janus was talking about, but Janus didn’t seem in any rush to clue him in. He just said, “Right,” in a strange, strained tone of voice.

Virgil made it through Janus’ bonds, and Janus brought his arms back in front of him, rubbing at his wrists and rolling his shoulders.

“Hang on a sec,” Virgil muttered, before standing up and striding to the door.

He tried to listen to any sounds outside, but heard nothing. Hopefully, that meant that no one was around. When he tested the handle, he found that the door was unlocked. He opened it a crack and peered out into the corridor beyond.

Empty.

Virgil left the door and helped haul Janus to his feet. Janus stayed leaning against him, one arm slung over Virgil’s shoulders to keep him upright.

“You know,” Janus said. “If they find us, they’ll kill us.”

“Pretty sure it’s too late for that,” Virgil muttered.

Together, they walked to the door. Virgil pushed it open, and they peered out into the corridor.

“Just checking, but do you have any idea where we’re going?” Janus asked.

“Not really. Other than, you know, out of here.”

“Right. Carry on then.”

They started down the corridor. Virgil knew that they’d been brought in from the right, so he went to the left. It felt agonisingly slow, just moving a few metres.

The footsteps were the only warning they got. Virgil and Janus froze at once, looking at each other in horror, and then a voice behind them said, “You know, that’s not polite guest behaviour.”

Virgil and Janus turned slowly. Mal stood at the other end of the corridor, a gun pointed at the two of them.

“I’d say it’s not very polite to kidnap people, either,” Janus said.

Virgil glanced around frantically. There was a door next to the two of them, if he could just get Janus through it-

“Lucky for you, I’m a generous man,” Mal continued. “If you come back now, we can forget any of this ever happened.”

He wanted to. God, Virgil really, really wanted to just go back and hope they’d be okay. But they’d already broken Janus’ leg as a warning, what would stop them breaking his other one? Or deciding he was more trouble than he was worth, and just getting rid of him.

The door next to them wasn’t shut properly. They’d be able to push it open.

Virgil looked at Janus, and, even though it had been years since he felt like they’d understood each other, he knew that Janus was thinking the same thing. Janus nodded, only slightly, enough that Virgil could barely see it, and Virgil knew that Janus trusted him.

He just hoped that Janus was right.

He twisted his body to cover Janus, and then shoved him through the door. He lunged after, and the gun went off-

Janus cried out, and Virgil collapsed through the door. He quickly slammed it shut behind him, and Janus pulled himself over to Virgil and pressed his back against the door. That meant Janus was safe, that the bullet hadn’t gone through his brain or anything else, so Virgil hauled himself to his feet.

This room still looked like an office. Virgil shoved the desk in front of the door, so that Janus could move away from it. Already, he could hear someone slamming on the door.

Virgil stumbled backwards, wondering if he’d be able to tackle Mal and get the gun away from him-

But the desk must have been made of something strong, because the door remained shut.

On the floor, Janus twisted to look at Virgil, horror growing on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Virgil asked, scanning Janus to see if he was injured – he didn’t  _ look  _ any more injured than he’d already been, but that didn’t mean anything. What if he was bleeding internally?

Except then he noticed that Janus was staring at Virgil’s middle. He looked down, and saw the black fabric of his hoodie was stained with something. When Virgil placed a hand to it, it came away red.

Oh. So Virgil was the one who’d gotten shot.

His legs suddenly felt very weak. He sunk to the floor, and then Janus was there, pressing something into Virgil’s side. Virgil blinked at him, and realised that Janus had taken off his jacket. That must be what he was using to stem the flow.

“You fucking idiot,” Janus snapped. “You couldn’t have just stayed put, could you? You had to come up with some way to break us out.”

Virgil scowled. “They would have kept hurting you, otherwise.”

“Shut up,” Janus muttered.

It was quiet outside the door. Mal had stopped trying to get it open.

“Is there a way out?” Virgil asked.

Janus looked around the room. “There’s a window,” he said. “But I don’t think either of us will make it out of it.”

Virgil laughed, he couldn’t help it. They’d almost actually made it out. He wondered if they would find his body here, bled out so close to the outside world.

Janus was staring at Virgil in horror, so maybe it wasn’t as funny as Virgil thought.

“Sorry,” Virgil muttered.

Janus shook his head. “None of this is your fault.”

“I thought all of this was my fault.”

Janus glanced sideways at him. “It stopped you panicking, didn’t it?”

It took Virgil a moment to process what Janus meant. “You bastard,” he said.

Janus shrugged, and looked around. “Do you think we can make it to the edge of the room?” he asked.

Virgil twisted his head to look. It wasn’t that far, and it would get them away from the door, in case Mal decided to shoot through it.

“Sure,” Virgil muttered, and they crawled over.

It actually felt better, having the wall behind him. Virgil closed his eyes. With the adrenaline wearing off, he was starting to feel the wound; a sharp, stabbing pain that radiated out. He kept Janus’ jacket pressed against his side.

“I’m sorry,” Janus said into the silence.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Virgil snarled, glaring at Janus. “You’re not allowed to apologise.”

“I don’t-”

“You never apologise,” Virgil continued. “Not any of the times you got us into trouble, not even when I broke my arm. You can’t start now just because you think-” Virgil cut himself off.  _ Because you think you’re going to die _ , he was going to say.

Janus said nothing, so Virgil added, “Besides, pretty sure there’s other people to blame here.”

Janus snorted. “My parents are such wonderful people, aren’t they?”

“Uh, I was going for the kidnappers, but sure, that works too, I guess.”

“Well, why shouldn’t we go straight to the root of the problem?” Janus asked. “I don’t know quite what they did to piss these people off, but I can imagine.”

Virgil didn’t know what to say to that, and Janus sighed.

“I’ve spent my life being someone I’ve not.”

Virgil tensed, because this- this was the kind of emotional bullshit they avoided like the plague. If Janus was talking about this stuff, it meant he was looking for something. Absolution, perhaps.

“All of it?” Virgil asked, thinking about days spent wandering the city, about Janus showing Virgil how to climb the tree in his garden to get into his room, the one Virgil broke his arm climbing.

Janus took a shuddering breath in, and then said, “Not all of it.”

“I missed you,” Virgil said, the words coming unbidden. It wasn’t until he’d said them that he realised he’d been thinking it all day. Possibly the last few years.

“We see each other every day.”

“You know what I mean,” Virgil muttered, even though he wasn’t even sure if  _ he  _ knew what he meant. He just knew that he missed the Janus that he used to be friends with, not the asshole who saw everyone as either an enemy or someone to step on.

“I do,” Janus said, quieter.

Virgil didn’t say anything. He wanted to tell Janus that he hadn’t meant to get Janus in trouble; he’d just wanted to stop him from sabotaging Logan’s grades. But Virgil had always been a coward, and that line of conversation might lead to Virgil  _ why  _ it had been such a big deal, when no consequences from school had ever stuck to Janus.

He’d suspected the answer to that question when he’d seen how pale Janus had gotten when the principal had said that she was calling Janus’ parents. He didn’t want to have it confirmed.

“Sorry about punching you in the face,” Virgil muttered instead.

Before Janus could reply, there was a sound at the window. Virgil and Janus both looked open to see it being pushed open, and the man with the moustache shimmying through. He landed on his feet, straightened his clothes, and then turned to Virgil and Janus.

Virgil’s mouth was dry, but he forced himself to speak anyway. “Look, you need Janus. ‘Cause without him, his parents won’t do what you want. So- so if you want to punish someone for this, you should punish me instead.”

“ _ No _ ,” Janus choked out. “I told you that my parents love both of us. That makes him valuable. And I’m less injured than he is, I can take more.”

“Wow,” the man said. “This is very sweet. Y’know, I honestly expected the two of you to throw each other under the bus as soon as you had the chance, but here you are! That was a nice lie about him being a family friend, by the way.”

Janus tensed, but the man walked straight past them. There was nothing Virgil could do to stop him from pushing the desk away from the door. The door swung open, and Mal stepped in.

“Thank you, Remus,” Mal said, walking over to Virgil and Janus. “You know, you guys have caused me a lot of trouble. It got me thinking about what I’m trying to get out of all this. And then I decided that, well, I really don’t need two of you.”

Oh, so that was how Virgil would die. He felt strangely calm about it, given how much the thought usually sent him spiralling.

Mal pointed his gun at Virgil, and Virgil shifted away from Janus, so that he wouldn’t get his blood all over him. He forced him to breathe slowly in and out, as the other man came up beside Mal, he lifted something up in his arm-

And hit Mal on the back of his head with the butt of his gun.

Mal crumpled to the ground, and Remus grinned at them.

“What the  _ fuck _ ?” Virgil shouted.

“What? He was going to kill you!” Remus said, sounding strangely defensive. “Which might have been my fault, for not doing a better job of distracting him. Sorry about that.”

“You’re the one who gave Virgil the knife,” Janus guessed. “Who are you? A cop?”

Remus pulled a face. “Please don’t insult me. But, speaking of police, there  _ are  _ some outside – they pulled up as I climbed in.”

“What about the other two?” Virgil asked.

“Probably blissfully unaware anything is happening,” Remus answered. “By which I mean I locked them in a closet.”

“Everything you say just leaves me with more questions,” Janus muttered. “Do you work for my parents?”

“Nah, I’m a free agent,” Remus answered, waving his hand. He held out his other hand for Virgil to take. Virgil shook his head. Remus sighed. “Look,” he said. “I don’t like Mal, so I figured I’d find a way to bring him down. Was planning on spending longer sowing chaos, but I didn’t realise he’d taken to hurting kids. Not that I’m surprised.”

Virgil figured that now wasn’t the best time to point out that Janus and he had both turned eighteen months ago.

“Police are right outside,” Remus added, when Virgil still didn’t move. “All you have to do is get to them.”

Virgil glanced at Janus, who shrugged. Well, Remus  _ had  _ knocked out Mal, and he’d helped them escape the first time by giving him the knife.

He took the hand.

Remus pulled him to his feet, and, supporting him the whole time, walked him to the window. He practically lifted Virgil up to it, and Virgil was able to scramble through. He wasn’t able to climb down, instead falling onto the ground in a heap. He lay there, winded, until he heard Janus call his name.

Janus was crawling out the window now, rather awkwardly thanks to his bad leg. His face was screwed up with pain. Virgil forced himself to his feet, and helped Janus down. The extra weight nearly made him fall over, but he was able to keep on his feet.

Remus didn’t follow them out. Virgil hadn’t expected him to.

People were moving forwards, swarming around them, and Virgil pushed Janus behind him and bared his teeth in a feral snarl. But it was the police, not their kidnappers, and they were ushered away from the warehouse.

He wasn’t aware of what was happening, he just kept gripping tight to Janus. Someone else, someone in a different uniform, tried to usher them towards separate ambulances, but Virgil hissed at them.

The next thing Virgil realised, they were sitting side by side in an ambulance that was moving. Janus touched Virgil’s arm.

“You can let go, now,” Janus said.

Reluctantly, Virgil moved away from Janus. Paramedics bustled around them, one pulled up Virgil’s shirt to look at the gunshot wound.

“What now?” Virgil asked.  _ What do we do at school? Are we still enemies? _

“I imagine we go to the hospital,” Janus said, and Virgil was pretty sure he knew that wasn’t what Virgil had been answered.

But Janus’ hand reached out, and wrapped around Virgil’s own, so maybe things wouldn’t go  _ completely  _ back to how they were.

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Heavily implied abusive parenting, kidnapping, harm to teenagers (Janus and Virgil are both 18 but still in high school), guns, characters tied up and hurt by their kidnappers
> 
> Find me on tumblr: sparrow-flies-south.tumblr.com


End file.
